Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang dead at 61: State media

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang died on Friday at the age of 61 after a serious illness, state media reported.

"President Tran Dai died at 10:05 am on the 21st of September at the military hospital," the official Vietnam News Agency reported Friday.

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by the president, prime minister and Communist Party chief. Experts say the presidency is largely ceremonial.

Quang was appointed to the role in April, 2016. Before that, he had served as Minister of Public Security, an organisation with broad powers and a remit that includes intelligence gathering and thwarting domestic and foreign threats to the party.

Originally from a small farming community 115 km (70 miles) south of Hanoi, Quang rose through party ranks to become a police general and member of Vietnam's powerful decision-making Politburo.

"We are saddened to hear the news that the president has died," said Bui Duc Phi, chairman of the village in which Quang was born.